Catenary suspension-bracket for curves.



No. 864,251. PATENTED AUG. 2'7, 1907.

Y B. P. MORRIS.

CATENARY SUSPENSION BRAGKET FOR CURVES.

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ELMER P. MORRIS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

CATENAEY SUSPENSION-BRACKET FOR CURVES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 27, 1:907.

Application filed October 20,1906. Serial No, 339,839.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELMER P. Mourns, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Catenary Suspension-Brackets for Curves, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to catenary suspen sions for the working conductors of electric railways of the trolley type, in which a messenger cable is employed, from which the working conductor is suspended by straps of different lengths so arranged that the conductor is supported in a horizontal plane, or substantially so. Some of the (lflliculties attending the use of this arrangement I point out in my application, Serial No. 339,840, filed October 20th, 1906, and the structure there described'is well adapted to remedy them upon straight lines. When the line of road curves, however, a lateral strain is imposed upon the trolley wire which tends to deflect it; Where the wheel trolley is used, particularly, the supporting devices are thrown out of the vertical and are apt to derail the wheel, especially when running at high speeds. It is of course understood that the trolley wheel must change its direction at every point of support of the conductor upon a curve, and it is therefore more diflicult to maintain good contact than when running on straight lines between the points of support.

The present invention deals with this problem of supporting the conductor by providing at each point of suspension a device which effectually preserves the vertical position of the supports for the working conductor, and which is preferably employed upon the bracket suspension which I have devised and described in my application above referred to; under some circumstances it may be otherwise used, and I do not wish to be restricted to its employment in the relation which is indicated.

It consists, in brief, of a clamp upon the bracketarm near its outer end, extending above theplane of the trolley wire; the lower end of the clamp is formed into a goose neck, which is attached to and forms a support of the trolley wire; while from the upper end, which extends into substantially the plane of the messenger cable, ties are stretched both to the cable and the trolley wire at points of attachment to the straps which usually ex tend from one to the other. By this arrangement the strains upon the brace or clamp are so balanced that it does not cramp upon the insulator to which it is attached, and the fracture of the latter is thus avoided.

The accompanying drawings show an embodiment of the invention; Figure 1, being a conventional perspective of the structure, embracing a portion of the pole and the bracket; Figs. 2 and 2 show the brace.

In Fig. 1, A is the pole and B is the bracket arm, secured by the collar B to the pole. The pole is shown as of iron, but this is immaterial. B is a brace or guy extending from the outer arm of the bracket to the pole, for which any other convenient form of brace may be substituted without objection. Upon the outer end of the bracket-arm B, are secured an insulator E, preferably of the high-potential type, and secondary insulators E E (such as are described in my Patent No. 803,010 issued October 31st, 1905). Clamped around the outer one of these two insulators by means of a collar H formed integral with it, is the brace H, composed of the collar H a vertical portion I-I containing the hole h, and the goose neck H". The latter extends to the trolley wire 0 and is secured to it by any convenient form of trolley car, of which many are known in the art; the wire itself is preferably of the well known figure-of-eight type. The messenger cable C rests upon the high potential insulator E, and is secured to the trolley wire by straps D, of sheet metal or wire rope. The bridle F, composed of metal rods or wires, extends from the hole It in the brace to the points of attachment of the straps D to the trolley wire and messenger cable, respectively, nearest to the bracket-arm. By the arrangement thus outlined the strain upon the upper part of the brace is in the same direction as that at the goose-neck, but at the opposite end of the lever, so that the moments of'the. two strains may be made to balance; there is thus but little tendency to tilt and crack the insulator E Of course, if the trolley wire curve is convex to the bracket, the brace H may be placed upon the insulator nearest to the pole, but otherwise the construction would be unchanged.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and wish to protect by Letters-Patent of the United States is:

1. In a catenary suspension, the combination with a messenger cable and a trolley wire suspended therefrom at a curve, of a brace supported between its extremities and secured at one end to the cable and at the other end to the trolley wire, so that the lateral strains thrown upon it by the cable and wire respectively are in the same direction.

2. In a catenary suspension, the combination with a messenger cable and trolley wire suspended therefrom at a curve, of a brace supported between its extremities and secured at one end to the cable and at the other end to the trolley wire, so that the moments of the lateral strains thrown upon it by the cable and wire respectively are in opposite directions; with means for insulating the brace from its support.

3. A suspension device for a catenary suspension, com prising a bracket-arm, insulating devices upon the arm, a

messenger cable carried by the insulating devices and supporting a trolley wire, a brace secured to and insulated from the bracketnrm, an attachment for the brace to the trolley wire, and a tie or ties from the brace to the cable.

4. A catenary suspension device composed of a support carrying an insulator, a messenger cable carried by the support, a trolley wire suspended from a messenger cable, a brace carried by and insulated from the support, an attachment between the bottom end of the brace and the trolley wire, and ties leading from the upper end of the 10 brace to the points of suspension of the trolley wire from the cable, both at the wire and the cable.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my name in the presence of two witnesses.

ELMER P. MORRIS.

Witnesses:

T, J. JOHNSTON, IRVING M OBRIEGHT. 

